Love can declare itself calmly
as a Heron on a still pond
its step a ripple widening
Each emanating circle
polishes me like a river stone
Till I am washed clean
But don’t be fooled
by that still white Heron
I know, for I have been speared
through the heart by that razor beak
All that I was
Annihilated in a single moment
As she raised my glistening body
and swallowed me whole
Pastel
Love is a tricky devil
sometimes masquerading
as the perfect mate
But when the mask falls
all we see is the dear
scared face of our loved one
and we must ask ourselves
how we ever expected
someone else
to meet all the needs
within our vast
and complicated soul
Other times
love plays dress up
with our hearts
as our children
wrap their sequined arms around us
and we button up their cares
But all too soon
they outgrow our ministrations
and we must open our arms
and give them back
to themselves
Love takes us in its arms
and dances us round mercilessly
till we realize we’re not in a ballroom
but a boxing ring
being knocked down in each round
It is only when we throw ourselves
at our opponent
in a headlock of connection
that our love is transformed
Then we remove our gloves
and bow our head
For we have heard
our opponent’s heartbeat
It is our own Beloved
and as we open to the Sound
its resounding thrum becomes our own
The cloak I have worn
grows heavy, Dear One
Help me to lift this mantle
Open my soul to the night sky
and scatter my limbs
like rustling leaves
to the heavens
What need have I of appendages?
I crave the radiant ember of the core
Burning from the inside out
its flame becomes a funeral pyre
A conflagration of the non-essential
whose sparks rise into the heavens
and dissolve
so gently
in this ocean of sky
Have you heard the sound
the universe makes
when it hums?
It’s always humming
Its particles sing to us
until we wonder
why we never heard
its soft ringing before
Funny things happen
when you tune in
to the Audible Stream
The elements
start a dialogue with you
You may find yourself
standing at the edge of the ocean
The rhythm of each lapping wave
asking What
What
What are you doing
with this precious life
you’ve been given?
You may be too busy
being pulled along
from moment
to inconsequential moment
to consider your answer
like your very life
depended on it
But the breeze
may take pity
and surround you
in its beseeching whisper
asking Please
Oh Please
don’t waste
any more time
not opening
your heart
It often begins with yearning
And we articulate
That elusive hunger
In whatever form suits us
Some express it
With a finely drawn line
While others are drawn
By the strings of their heart
Some chase the acquisitions
Of a beautiful life
And others acquire good deeds
They count on like rosary beads
But this smokescreen of desire
Only serves to obscure
What we are really meant
To bring forth
For creativity
Isn’t something to sculpt
From the stone of our intentions
True creativity
Is an infinite resonance
Awakening
And who knows
Where it will lead?
Once the mind
Relinquishes its bag of tricks
We can let
That great deceiver rest
And become still
As an Ibis
Waiting in the marsh
Until no more ripples
Mar the surface
Of that clear pool inside
And our creations
Become a reflection
Of this reflection
How long have I been a beggar
Stealing scraps from my Master’s table
Not realizing I was welcome
To the whole feast?
When you slipped through
That narrow crevasse
You stole my equipoise
Like a burglar in the night
Faced with your purity
I dump my tricks
Like the sack of bones
that they are
Friend, you are so welcome at this table
I have laid for you at last
When you arrive
Your presence stills my chatter
You blend innocence and wisdom
In a single gaze
That illuminates everything
You exist without judgment or attachment
In a moment that goes on forever
Be a wide bottomed dinghy
Sailing on the ebb
Of the evening tide
Be unconcerned
With the highs and lows
Of each swell
The tributaries
Up ahead or behind
Cannot sway you
If you set your compass
On the tide
That is constant
Be a sailor
That needs no oars
In fact lock them in place
And be rocked
In the cradle
Of the Deep
I sold my serenity
to a bargain hunter
in the marketplace
like the cheapest of trinkets
Holding the empty scales
I felt the balance tip
And was surrounded
once again
in the cacophony
of the crowd
Never let the poverty
of another’s consciousness
tarnish your awareness
The knowledge gained
from these experiences
are your only commodity
of real value
And you must know by now
These wisdoms
are paid for dearly
in the mistakes made
over and over
on the slow road
of acceptance
You are the center
you must eventually
come home to
If you shift your gaze
beyond the marketplace
you can just make out
an open expanse
And once you see it
You’ll run
laughing
For why play anywhere else
than on the snow white plain
of your soul?
Today when you walked in you took my breath away
Your aquamarine eyes prism the light with a clarity that pierces veils
Their intensity is tamed only by the tangled cliff of your eyebrows
Where every so often a renegade strand makes a break for it
When I met you I didn’t believe in fate
All I knew was that you were deeply familiar-
Like a pair of favorite slippers
I’d been putting on every morning of my life
Now I know I didn’t stand a chance
From the first, you drew me and I drew you
Till we created the picture that was needed
To complete ourselves
After twenty five years
Your magnetism is as strong as the day I met you
Sometimes I forget, grow complacent
Then you’ll enter a room and it hits me
The energy palpable and sure
As we work this sojourn
I realize it is not our minds or hearts
Rather it is our souls who have done the choosing
We teach one another
You by your dharma
Me by my surrender
So that step by step
We stumble our way home
My Lord
white as jasmine
I have tried to follow
your heady scent
but was lost
in the labyrinth
of your garden
Now I see
there are many paths
that lead back
to You
Only when I cease
holding you
at arms length
have you embraced me
Only when I stop
trying to be worthy
am I cleansed
by your purity
The most Herculean task
I will ever undertake
is to let you
love me
Every imperfect
part of me
Laid bare
and anointed
in The Stream
till I am ready for you
at last
My Lord
white as jasmine
– After Mahadevi
Ego’s handmaiden
is a loving attendant
wrapping us
in achievements of gossamer
and titles of silk
Till our essence
is mummified
so tightly
we don’t recognize
our self anymore
What happens
when we lift
these veils
layer by layer
Till we are adorned
solely in the raiment
of our humility
Our core exposed
as a vein of gold
running from the depths
of our emptied center
How many ages have I tunneled through
deaf and blind as an earthworm?
Breaking through to the light of day
is indeed a shock
The illumination of this sparkling world
and the hum of the universe envelop me
till I am awash in a current
that has carried me
since time began
Being ready to receive these gifts
is indeed the work of ages
One of the hardest things I will ever do
is accept that I am worthy as any queen
That I am luminous as an opal
reflecting the prism of light
that flows from it’s core
out into the world
coloring everything
absolutely everything
in its radiance
I
We spoke the other day about suffering
You were talking about your clients
Who live under bridges
Whose homes are often a warm overcoat
But I think you were really wondering about yourself
You take a walk
on good days
when your legs aren’t betrayed
by their rheumatoid joints
I keep asking you to take it easy
quit your job
Come up to Vermont
Although I know, really, why you don’t
You are a beacon
Shedding light
For those around you
Your suffering is a fire
Consuming the dross
as its sparks rise into the sky
II
Your hands, nearly helpless now
Lie folded in your lap
You watch as we fold origami cranes
The girls are going for a thousand
It’s dinnertime and we’re only on our third
But I’m not saying a word
I’m slowly learning
That even if we do everything we’re told
Our wishes won’t be granted
For it’s the work itself that is the gift
These days it’s my turn to watch
Your hands slowly curling in on themselves
Making their own delicate cranes
Perhaps our bodies know something
Our minds don’t want to acknowledge;
That unless we fold inward
We will never find the freedom
Of unfolding into flight
III
This life is a training ground
We’re here to learn
and eventually
go home
And it is through our glorious
or imperfect bodies
that we have that chance
What could be a greater gift
Than the opportunity to work
Towards our own divinity
Through these vessels?
Health, status and ability
are given
then taken away
When we loosen our grip
And let our trust
peel away our fear
One day we may find
the cage door open
and that we are, indeed
ready for flight
Sugaring ended early this year
as I pulled out the taps
in the old maple in our yard
I watched the sap slowly bleed down
the gnarled trunk
drawn back into the earth
where it will be drunk up
once again
Daily I watch my energy
seep out into a world of cares
as my body is tapped
like this maple
The merry go round
of emotions are old opponents
on this dizzying battlefield
of awareness
As I wrestle to close
each rusty tap
it cuts at the quick
a little more
fighting till the end
the alchemy at it’s core
But once the ascent has begun
there is no stopping
It’s Magnificent
Golden
Flow
Milkweed
I
Pricked by love’s needle
I bleed tears
Each trembling globe
A liquid exhalation
Whispering your Name
But don’t mistake
These tears for sadness
They are sprung
Witnessing the fullness
Of creation
II
Love is our constant companion
It is there every time we forget ourselves
In the focused attention
On another
It is there every moment
we inhale winter’s crisp
And push our sled off
with a whoop
Over the edge
Love is our constant companion
It doesn’t leave us
Even when our bodies do
When our time is ripe
Death cracks us open
Our essence released
Like the down of a milkweed
To float among us
And germinate once again
In the fertile ground
You choose the palette
and your hands paint the picture
of the world in which you live
The inner is reflected in the outer
If you trust the divine
to express itself
it will show its colors
like a vine flower opening
In bowing your head to the ground
you can see each grain of sand
become a universe of brilliant stars
Beacons that gather the light of each soul
and reflect it back a thousand fold
With a single eye
you can see infinity
in a field of spring grass
shimmering in waves of
golden green light
With an intake of breath
you can smell the March breeze
as it arrives with undertones
of moist earth and sap
And you ask yourself
Is there anything that rivals
the joy of new life
releasing itself?
In these moments
of caught awareness
I rejoice with a world
that is constantly praising the divine
Unheeding of any audience
it sings on
And I join for a moment
it’s audacious Sound
How long have I been a beggar
Stealing scraps from my Master’s table
Not realizing I was welcome
To the whole feast?
When you slipped through
That narrow crevasse
You stole my equipoise
Like a burglar in the night
Faced with your purity
I dump my tricks
Like the sack of bones
that they are
Friend, you are so welcome at this table
I have laid for you at last
When you arrive
Your presence stills my chatter
You blend innocence and wisdom
In a single gaze
That illuminates everything
You exist without judgment or attachment
In a moment that goes on forever
The tide knows patience
As it washes the edge of the land
lapping the rocks so gently
Slowly softening their immobility
Into sand
Dolphins navigate the eddies
Of this erosion
In an effortless glide
Between air and ocean
A reminder of a time
When we swam ceaselessly
In the Sound
The dolphin breathes into
The solidity of our existence
And dissolves it
In the aquatic’s embrace
Joyful torpedoes
Imploding the divide
These wise souls
Always seem to be laughing
And really, who could blame them
If they weren’t occasionally laughing at us?
Weak lunged land dwellers with no echolocation
Who don’t leap or dive
And can only hear the middle ranges
And if someday we decode
their sonorous language of clicks and trills
I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them,
smiling like a true Buddha of the deep
said: You don’t know what you lost, dear cousin
When you left the Sound
Have you heard the sound
the universe makes
when it hums?
It’s always humming
Its particles sing to us
until we wonder
why we never heard
its soft ringing before
Funny things happen
when you tune in
to the Audible Stream
The elements
start a dialogue with you
You may find yourself
standing at the edge of the ocean
The rhythm of each lapping wave
asking What
What
What are you doing
with this precious life
you’ve been given?
You may be too busy
being pulled along
from moment
to inconsequential moment
to consider your answer
like your very life
depended on it
But the breeze
may take pity
and surround you
in its beseeching whisper
asking Please
Oh Please
don’t waste
any more time
not opening
your heart
The world is full
of darkness and and light
Dear One
And much as I want to
I cannot always keep you safe
like I did when I held you tight
and encircled your room
with a safety spell each night
What I can do is remind you
not to underestimate your talent
for seeing the light
inside every person
and situation you meet
This gift will carry you through
the darkest night
for it is the hardships we undergo
that ultimately mature and define us
A true warrior keeps her heart open
in the midst of adversity
For nothing vanquishes darkness
like the illumination of love
Call upon it with any name you choose
And love shows up
determined and courageous as a weed
sprouting from a crack in the sidewalk
Unfurling its tender leaves
one by one
I wanted you to know
Dear One
When you are ready for a respite
Or tired of making such a concerted effort
to make your way in the world
There is a place for you to come home to
Like that kiss I used to plant in your palm
to open when you missed me
I plant that kiss inside you now
It’s yours and always has been
When you go there
you’ll find that love always open to you
And as you practice giving and receiving it
I hope you will learn to trust its wisdom
And the answers it provides
For loving deeply
isn’t an emotional endeavor
It’s a radical release of the personal
while opening to the Other
And in the meeting place between the two
you will find your true self
Welcome home
Dear One